Two National Guard members shot near White House
Investing.com - European stocks rose Tuesday, continuing the positive start to the week as the end to the longest U.S. government shutdown on record appears in sight.
The DAX index in Germany gained 0.6%, the CAC 40 in France climbed 0.1.3% and the FTSE 100 in the U.K. rose 1.2%.
All three benchmarks posted gains of over 1% on Monday on optimism that the U.S. government shutdown was coming to an end.
U.S. Senate passes funding bill
On Monday night, the U.S. Senate passed a bill to fund the federal government through January, ending the longest shutdown in U.S. history.
The bill, which passed 60-40 with support from a handful of Democratic senators and nearly all Republicans.
It next heads to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson has said he would like to pass it as soon as Wednesday and send it on to President Donald Trump to sign into law.
The likely ending of the shutdown has encouraged investors, as the shutdown had sparked disruptions across the country, especially in key sectors such as air travel, likely weighing on the U.S. economy, widely seen as the global economy’s main growth driver.
U.K. wage growth slows
Back in Europe, data released earlier Tuesday showed that the U.K. unemployment rate rose in September, but wage growth slowed slightly, bolstering expectations for a Bank of England interest rate cut next month.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the jobless rate climbed to 5.0% in the three months to September, above the 4.8% seen the prior month.
Wage growth, excluding bonuses, slowed slightly to 4.6% in the three months to September, from an increase of 4.7% in the three months to August.
The Bank of England is closely watching pay growth for signs of how persistent domestic inflation pressures are likely to prove. The central bank held interest rates at 4% last week, and hinted that it could reduce borrowing costs in December.
Vodafone lifts its full-year outlook
In the European corporate sector, British telecommunications company Vodafone (LON:VOD) raised its full-year outlook after reporting higher revenue and earnings for the first half of fiscal 2026, supported by growth in the U.K., Turkey and Africa.
Munich Re (ETR:MUVGn) said its third-quarter profit rose to €2 billion as major-loss costs in its property-casualty reinsurance segment dropped significantly from a year earlier. The result brought the reinsurer’s nine-month profit to €5.2 billion.
Earlier in the session, SoftBank (TYO:9984) reported a much stronger-than-expected fiscal second quarter profit, as the Japanese tech conglomerate continued to reap strong returns from its aggressive bets on artificial intelligence.
Crude rises
Oil prices rose on Tuesday, continuing the previous session’s trend.
Brent futures gained 1.8% to $65.20 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures increased 1.7% to $61.15 a barrel.
Both contracts posted small gains on Monday as U.S. lawmakers marked some progress towards ending a prolonged government shutdown, but traders remained on edge over a potential supply glut in the coming year.
Earlier this month, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, agreed to increase December output targets by 137,000 barrels per day, the same as for October and November. It also agreed to a pause in increases in the first quarter of next year.